17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Season for War, August 25, 2006
Silver May Tarnish (2005) is the fourth Fantasy novel of the Witch World Chronicles. In this novel, the Hounds of Alizon invaded the Dales of High Hallek with their war machines, overrunning Dales and leaving behind ruins, bodies and dead vegetation. Yet the Dalesmen and their allies, the Riders of the Waste, slowly drove the invaders back until all Alizons were killed.
Lancor is the youngest son of the Lord of Erondale. His family is a cadet branch of the Lords of Palendale. The two Dales foster the sons of each other for weapon training and other education required of a lord.
Lancor was declared to be a child of sorrow by the wisewoman Aynera. Three sorrows were the death of his mother, then of his younger sister, and finally the death of his father and older brothers when the Alizon assault came to Erondale. Nor was this to be the end of his sorrow. Yet the wisewoman stated that he would find joy in flowing gold.
After the destruction of Erondale by the Alizons, young Lancor fled with his weaponmaster to Palendale. There he worked at hunting game to feed the many refugees. Yet Lord Hogar's third son, Hogeth, became his enemy and Lancor fled the household as soon as he was able after reaching his majority.
Lancor joined the Dales army fighting the invaders, becoming a scout in the troop of Lord Salden under the false name of Farris of Eldale. He becomes friends with Aran of Tildale, a man of middling honesty, but always fair to his friends. The two scouts lead the Tildale troop to many battles, including the last one at Hagar Pass. There the troop hold back the Alizons fleeing from the last battle, but only four troopers survive.
Meive is a child of Landale, which is also called Honeycombe for its superb bees. At the age of ten, Meive is chosen by the queen bees as apprentice of Ithia, the wisewoman who speaks with the bees. She is trained somewhat by Ithia for the next two years and then moves into Ithia's cottage at the age of twelve for more advanced training. Her family asks for a two day delay so that they can throw a party for the departing daughter.
Landale is blessed by its remote location and hidden entrance. None of the invaders approach anywhere near the Dale. After the war, bandits attack Merrowdale, a larger valley nearby. Then these bandits attack Landale, with a former resident as their guide. Everyone in Landale is killed except Meive, who has been sent away with the beehives to a distant cave.
With the assistance of the queen bees, Meive lures the bandits into the cave and poisons them. Neeco, the traitor, doesn't drink the deadly mead, but he is stung many times by warrior bees and slowly dies of their stings. Meive relents after a time and gives him succor.
This novel tells of the meeting of Lancor and Meive and their plans to rebuild Honeycombe. They gradually accumulate warriors and other homeless people, all approved by the bees, and settle into the keep and cots of the dale. However, Hogeth still nurses a hatred for Lancor and even believes him to be a source of countless gold pieces. They soon become aware that he is hunting for Lancor.
Although Meive is a wisewoman, her powers differ from those of most wisewomen. Her powers will not fade if she has children. She hopes that her daughters will also become Wisewomen of Bees. She is almost certain that Lancor will be their father.
This is one of the last works influenced directly by Andre Norton. While McConchie wrote a shorter version of the story, she felt that it was an awkward length. So she sent it to Norton and received a reply that her work was only part of the story. With a new beginning and an extended ending, the early story became this published version. Norton had a short, but successful career as an editor in the 1950s and has apparently never lost that guiding touch.
Highly recommended for Norton and McConchie fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, subtle magic and unstated romance.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
return to Witch World, November 30, 2005
Invaders from the realm of Alizon made war on the Dales, using siege machines and weapons of mass destruction that made the land lifeless. Those who didn't die in battle were left to fend for themselves and many became outlaws and bandits, taking what they wanted and killing without compunction. Some lords had no help their people by their finding a new place to call home.
Lorcan, heir to the dead land of Erendale, is saved from bandits by Maive, the lady of the bees, who lives in a land never touched by battle. Lorcan is grateful to Maive of Honeycoombe and pledges to be her liege man although in time he wants much more from the beautiful woman who holds power over the bees. Bandits killed everyone in her Dale so they seek decent people to inhabit the isolated yet rich land. Even after they accomplish this, another battle looms for an old enemy is coming to kill him and settle the land.
Set in the world of the Witch World series, readers get to see the effects of war on civilians and how they cope with their losses. The two paths they travel banditry and relocation is realistically portrayed and the protagonists are people whose deeds the jongleurs sing about. Readers can see the steps to reconstruction begin as soon as the war ends and the bandits are dealt with in a harsh manner by good people who don't want the hatreds that festered through the war to destroy what they are trying to rebuild.
Harriet Klausner
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It whisked me into an imaginary world, January 3, 2006
Lorcan, a young child and youngest son to the Dale owner, has loved his land very much. However, one day Alizon invaders attacked his land. The Dale army was no match for the Alizon invaders, so they retreated into a cave/passage. After many onslaughts of the invaders, Lorcan's brothers and father dies in the fighting. Lorcan and the head-of-arms master are the only one who escape to another Dale. At the other Dale Lorcan hunts for money, and he gets trained by the head-of-arms there. At the appropiate age, he joins the fight, and they win the battle against the invaders. After the battle, Lorcan travels around the land searching for followers who want to be in his Dale, and with the money that his old Dale secretly left behind for him, he is confident that he can do so. On the way in his travels, he meets Meive, a magic woman, some women with various ages, and 5 blank shields. With these people will Lorcan ever rebuild his Dale?? Or will he have the scars of battle forever, and forever be a nomad?
This book was an amazing book. I loved the flow of the book, and it kept me reading, and wanting to read more. There is always some action about it, and it whisked me into an imaginary world, that could also seem real, since the characters did real things. The author gave just the right amount of detail for certain things, which made the book more interesting for me.
Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
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